Milos Raonic came in as the obvious underdog, but came out with an upset for the history books. The Canadian defeated Rafael Nadal at the Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open for his first victory in six career match-ups against the Spaniard.
The 24-year-old beat Nadal, 4-6, 7-6(10), 7-5 and saved three match points in the second set to advance to the semi-finals.
In the first Masters 1000 event in the ATP World Tour of the season, Raonic got off to a shaky start against the number third-ranked player in men’s singles, but settled after a flurry of unforced errors early on.
Nadal, failed to put Raonic away in the second set and paid for it in the third when Raonic got the break he needed and subsequently served out the quarterfinal match.
Raonic relied on his serve to get him back into the match early, but his inside out forehand also worked well for him on this day, something he has been working on.
"It's about doing things a little differently," Raonic said of his win. "I'm happy with the way I came through."
Once asked if he had doubt facing Raonic's serve, Nadal tried to lighten the mood with his sense of humour: "Doubt? I have doubt in the locker room."
"I'm happy the way I competed today, but not happy that I lost. I lost against a great opponent," stated Nadal.
Nadal was broken for the first time this tournament as the three-time champion took a 2-1 lead in the first set. The 28-year-old Nadal went on to win the first set fairly comfortably.
Raonic finally earned a crucial break in the third set to go up 6-5 and a chance to serve out the match.
Raonic said before the match he was ready to step up and he was excited to play Nadal, and he did just that. In 2 hours and 58 minutes, Raonic completed one of his more memorable career wins.
Raonic will now face off against four-time champion Federer in the semi-final after the Swiss comfortably beat Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-0.